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Biden Warns Israel Not to Attack Rafah without Plan to Protect Civilians

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP)
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Biden Warns Israel Not to Attack Rafah without Plan to Protect Civilians

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP)
Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP)

President Joe Biden has again cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against moving forward with a military operation into Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah without a “credible and executable plan” to protect around 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.

The vast majority have fled fighting in other areas of Gaza, and hundreds of thousands are living in sprawling tent camps.

However, Netanyahu vowed early on Friday to reject “international dictates” on a long-term resolution of Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.

Two Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight killed at least 13 people, including nine members of the same family, according to hospital officials and relatives.

The number of Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza has surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. A quarter of Gaza’s residents are starving. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 abducted in Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the war.

Israel’s defense minister said Israel is “thoroughly planning” its promised ground invasion of Rafah.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters Friday that Rafah is “the next Hamas center of gravity” that Israel plans on targeting.

“We are thoroughly planning future operations in Rafah, which is a significant Hamas stronghold,” he said.

He declined to say when the operation might begin.

As he spoke, Israel pressed ahead with its operation in the nearby southern city of Khan Younis, where troops have focused on its main hospital.

Gallant said a total of 70 militants have been arrested in the hospital. He alleged 20 of them participated in the Oct. 7 cross-border attack that triggered the war.

He added that Israel has “no intention” of forcing Palestinian civilians into Egypt.

“The state of Israel has no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt,” he said. “We respect and value our peace agreement with Egypt, which is a cornerstone of stability in the region as well as an important partner.”

The United Nations chief warned that an all-out offense by Israel on southern Gaza city of Rafah would be devastating for Palestinian civilians there.

Secretary-General António Guterres called the situation in Gaza “an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations” and said the UN's humanitarian aid operation there is barely functioning.

“Rafah is at the core of the entire humanitarian aid operation,” Guterres said in an opening speech at the Munich Security Conference.

He said that humanitarian workers in Gaza are working under “unimaginable conditions” that include live fire, Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of public order.

“An all-out offensive on the city would be devastating” for the Palestinian civilians living there, he added.

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Arab World

At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory

An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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At Least 25 Killed as Russian, Syrian Jets Intensify Bombing of Syrian Opposition Territory

An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
An ambulance rushes to the scene of a Syrian regime airforce strike that targeted a neighborhood in Syria's opposition-held northern city of Idlib on December 1, 2024.(Photo by MUHAMMAD HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday.
Russian and Syrian jets struck the opposition-held city of Idlib in northern Syria on Sunday, military sources said, as President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush insurgents who had swept into the city of Aleppo.
The army also said it had recaptured several towns that opposition factions had overrun in recent days.
Residents said one attack hit a crowded residential area in the center of Idlib, the largest city in an opposition enclave near the Turkish border where around four million people live in makeshift tents and dwellings.
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured, according to rescuers at the scene. The Syrian army and its ally Russia say they target the hideouts of insurgent groups and deny attacking civilians.
Ten children were among the dead in the air strikes in and around Idlib and other targets in opposition-held territory near Aleppo on Sunday, according to the White Helmets.
The total death toll from Syrian and Russian strikes since Nov. 27 had climbed to 56, including 20 children, the group added in a statement on X.
The insurgents are a coalition of Türkiye-backed mainstream secular armed groups along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by the US, Russia, Türkiye and other states.
The insurgents seized control of all of Idlib province in recent days, the boldest opposition assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.
Insurgents also swept into the city of Aleppo, east of Idlib, on Friday night, forcing the army to redeploy.
In remarks published on state media, Assad said: "Terrorists only know the language of force and it is the language we will crush them with".
The Syrian army said dozens of its soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Aleppo.
Russian war bloggers reported on Sunday that Moscow had dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, after insurgents swept into Aleppo. Reuters has requested comment from the Russian defense ministry.
In a joint statement, the United States, France, Germany, and Britain urged "de-escalation by all parties and the protection of civilians and infrastructure to prevent further displacement and disruption of humanitarian access".
LEAVING ALEPPO
Inside Aleppo city, streets were mostly empty and many shops were closed on Sunday as scared residents stayed at home. There was still a heavy flow of civilians leaving the city, witnesses and residents said.
Opposition fighters waving the opposition flag drove through the city, Yusuf Khatib, a resident, told Reuters by phone. Some of the opposition took up positions on street intersections, he added.
Ahmad Tutenji, a merchant in the affluent New Aleppo neighborhood, said he was surprised how quickly the army left. "I am shocked at how they fled and abandoned us."
Abdullah al Halabi, a pensioner whose neighborhood was bombed near the central area of Qasr al Baladi, said people were terrified they would see a repeat of the Russian-led bombing that killed thousands of people before driving out the opposition a decade ago.
Syrian troops who had withdrawn from the city were now regrouping and reinforcements were also being sent to help in the counter-attack, army sources said.
Aleppo had been firmly held by the government since a 2016 victory there, one of the war's major turning points, when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and laid waste to opposition-held eastern areas of what had been the country's largest city.
The opposition said on Sunday they had pushed further south of Aleppo city and captured the town of Khansir in an attempt to cut the army's main supply route to Aleppo city.
Opposition sources said they had also captured Sheikh Najjar estate, one of the country's major industrial zones.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield accounts.
The war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many millions, has ground on since 2011 with no formal end. Most heavy fighting halted years ago after Iran-backed militias and Russian air power helped Assad win control of all major cities.
A lack of that manpower contributed to the speedy retreat of Syrian army forces in recent days, according to two army sources.
The opposition gains came after Israel stepped up its strikes on Iranian bases in Syria and Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Militias allied to Iran, led by Hezbollah, have had a strong presence in the Aleppo area.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, visiting Damascus on Sunday, said the situation in Syria was "difficult" but the Assad government would prevail.